[General] Insinuate among people / bring miseries on somebody's head

[Marina Gaidar]

I'm still translating a historical text from Russian into English, and I've got such a sentence: "Behold the demon who insinuated among us many years ago! Do you believe me now that his rotten spirit has brought miseries on our heads?" Do these sentences have right to exist? I've marked the places which are the most doubtful for me.

 

[Gillnetter]

I'm still translating a historical text from Russian into English, and I've got such a sentence: "Behold the demon who insinuated among us many years ago! Do you believe me now that his rotten spirit has brought miseries on our heads?" Do these sentences have a right to exist? I've marked the places which are the most doubtful for me.

What did the demon insinuate?

 

[Marina Gaidar]

What did the demon insinuate?

Well... how to say... he became a part of a commune, like sneaked into it. I should use some direct object after "insinuate"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Well... how to say... he became a part of a commune, like sneaked into it. I should use some direct object after "insinuate"?

I would say something like "He insinuated himself into our group". When using "insinuate" to show that some introduced themselves subtly, you need to say what they insinuated themselves into.

 

[Marina Gaidar]

I would say something like "He insinuated himself into our group". When using "insinuate" to show that some introduced themselves subtly, you need to say what they insinuated themselves into.

Oh! I see! Thanks! And what about "bring miseries on someone's head"? Is it correct?

 

[Gillnetter]

Well... how to say... he became a part of a commune, like sneaked into it. I should use some direct object after "insinuate"?

I suppose that you could say that the demon insinuated himself into the commune. The problem I have with even using "insinuate" is that you have to select a secondary meaning for this word. The primary meaning of insinuate is to suggest something in an indirect manner, such as, "He insinuated that I came to work later". I would opt for another term - "The demon worked his way into...", "The demon wormed his way into...".

 

[emsr2d2]

I suppose that you could say that the demon insinuated himself into the commune. The problem I have with even using "insinuate" is that you have to select a secondary meaning for this word. The primary meaning of insinuate is to suggest something in an indirect manner, such as, "He insinuated that I came to work later". I would opt for another term - "The demon worked his way into...", "The demon wormed his way into...".

I agree. I had to check the definition of "insinuate" because I only ever use it myself to mean to suggest something indirectly. I knew it had a secondary meaning but I wanted to check it was what I thought it was. We rarely use it that way. I like your "worked his way into ..." or even "wormed his way into ..."

 

[Marina Gaidar]

Thank you! You've been very helpful!